Every year, human civilization churns out ever more dangerous quantities of greenhouse gases. Every day we see and feel the increasing effects of a growing climate crisis that impacts people’s health, the economy, and the environment.

The prestigious medical journal The Lancet has written that climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century.  The UN Secretary General, who is convening world leaders to a “Climate Action Summit” this month, calls it an “existential threat.”

Super typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones, unprecedented floods, withering drought, runaway wildfires, spreading disease, deadly air pollution, and mass migration of climate refugees are all increasingly impacting the daily lives of people across the planet.  The abnormal is becoming normal. A slow-motion climate emergency is beginning to unfold.

There is a direct connection between the climate crisis and civilization’s dependence on the combustion of fossil fuels—coal, oil and gas. The solution is clear. We must break our addiction to these toxic 20th century energy sources, and build a 21st century economy nourished by clean, renewable, healthy energy.

Read the full article about our planet's health problems by Josh Karliner at Skoll.